The presence of undesired plants on a lawn or in a garden can be difficult to treat and frustrating for owners. Removing certain undesired plants while maintaining other plants is a problem on farms, golf courses, and residential yards. Golf course owners may re-sod an entire green or fairway if stubborn summer perennial grasses like some types of Bermudagrass grow on the green or fairway. Re-sodding is a very costly solution for managing the invasion of summer perennial grasses.
Traditional herbicides do not always effectively treat weeds. As more plants are treated with chemical weed killer, plants may develop a tolerance to herbicides, thereby increasing the amount of herbicide required and decreasing efficiency of the treatment. Certain grasses and weeds are difficult to kill and traditional herbicides often require multiple applications before plants die. The use of herbicides may often cause turf to discolor. Also, many herbicides are not intended for use when the temperature reaches 85° F. or warmer. If herbicides are used in warm temperatures, desired grasses often die along with unwanted plants, or the desired grasses may experience extreme stress. As such, traditional herbicides may not effectively remove weeds at the point in the weed growth cycle when weeds grow the most and the quickest without also causing harm to desirable grasses.
Chemical herbicides are harmful to people and the environment. Weed treatments may pose a risk for an individual dispensing weed killer onto a treatment surface since herbicides often contain poisonous chemicals. A chemical residue may remain on a treated area, thereby posing a risk to small children and pets. Harsh chemical weed killers are detrimental to the environment since toxins may leech into the soil and drain into water runoff. Such detrimental effects have prompted increased governmental regulations limiting the type and amount of chemicals utilized to treat weeds and crops.
Accordingly, a need exists for an apparatus and method of vegetation treatment which selectively treats weeds and other undesirable plants while allowing desirable plants to remain.